Romney Raises Millions After Obamacare Ruling

Mitt Romney's campaign says it has raised more than $4 million within 24 hours of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Barack Obama's health-care law.

CNBC

Mitt Romney response to Supreme Court health care ruling.

"What happened yesterday calls for greater urgency, I believe, in the election," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee told donors Friday in New York.

"I think people recognize that if you want to replace Obamacare you've got to replace President Obama. And the urgency of doing that is something which is galvanizing people across the country."

He suggested the ruling was somewhat surprising.

"I think many people assumed that the Supreme Court would do the work that was necessary in repealing Obamcare," Romney said, adding that the justices "did not get that job done."

The Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote Thursday, upheld the constitutionality of Obama's health-care law.

For much of the past year, Romney has promised to repeal the measure if elected, despite his record in Massachusetts. As governor of that state, Romney signed into law a health-care overhaul that required residents to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, a provision known as the "individual mandate."

The Massachusetts law helped inspire Obama's version, which also includes an individual mandate.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg cited the Massachusetts law in the ruling. "Congress followed Massachusetts' lead," she wrote.

The high court decision appears to have fired up the conservative base. Romney's campaign has reported raising more than $4 million online since the ruling, although that number could not be independently verified.

The White House, meanwhile, is urging congressional Democrats to engage Republicans in a fight over taxes, pressing them to go on the offensive after the health-care decision gave prominence to the tax issue.

White House senior adviser David Plouffe is sending a memorandum to the House and Senate Democratic caucuses saying Republicans are misrepresenting Obama's record. In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, Plouffe said the White House welcomes a debate on taxes.

Obama has called for tax increases on households earning more than $250,000, but has also said existing tax cuts should be extended permanently for the middle class.

The court upheld the law, declaring that a penalizing people who can afford insurance but don't buy can be treated as a tax.